EU Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism Apostolos Tzitzikostas convened airlines, air-navigation service providers and airport CEOs in Brussels on 5 May to take stock of year-one implementation of the Single European Sky (SES2+) package. Participants acknowledged that Europe’s air-traffic management capacity is lagging behind post-pandemic demand, risking another summer of delays. Belgium is at the centre of the debate: Eurocontrol’s Network Manager, headquartered in Brussels, warned that even a 5 % traffic overshoot versus forecasts could translate into average delays of 15 minutes per flight without urgent reforms. Attendees discussed accelerated deployment of SESAR digital-tower technology at Brussels Airport and better cross-border sectorisation with Dutch and German airspace to smooth flows over the Benelux core. The Commission floated the idea of earmarking Connecting Europe Facility funds for fast-tracked ATM automation projects, provided Member States, including Belgium, commit to binding performance targets. Airlines welcomed the financial carrot but pressed for “stick” elements—penalties on air-navigation service providers that miss capacity metrics. For mobility professionals the key takeaway is the prospect of fewer ATC-induced delays from summer 2027 onward, once the proposed technology upgrades come online. In the near term, however, travel managers should continue to pad schedules and prefer early-morning departures, when network congestion is statistically lower.
